Authorities have identified the suspect as Thomas Lawton Evans, 37. Riverside Police say he was taken into law enforcement custody in Mississippi Wednesday after initially evading their officers.

Riverside Police say they located Evans after investigating a report from a railroad crew of a suspicious vehicle in a wooded area along the tracks.

Riverside Police Chief Rick Oliver said Wednesday night that he and the local fire chief went to the area, and found Evans asleep in the vehicle with the child.

Minutes later, the child was in police custody, but Evans had gotten away, Oliver says.

"This is a blessing. This has nothing to do with luck," Oliver said Wednesday. "The good Lord put me in the place that I, as well as the fire chief, needed to be to take care of the little girl. His hand was on the little girl. No question."

Oliver said Evans was very nervous when confronted, and his location raised red flags immediately.

"He was way out away from where he needed to be," Oliver said. "There was no reason for him to be that far off in the wooded area."

Oliver said when he asked Evans to get out of the car and walk back to the police station with him, Evans asked if the chief would mind carrying the girl.

Oliver says the moment Evans handed Todd to him, Evans bolted back toward the vehicle, and drove away. But, capturing Evans was secondary to taking care of Todd, said Oliver, who says he is a grandfather.

According to Oliver, Mississippi authorities say Evans led their law enforcement officers on a lengthy chase before he was stopped and aprehended. Evans was driving a blue Chevy Impala with an Illinois tag, Oliver says.

Lauderdale County Mississippi Chief Deputy Ward Calhoun tells ABC affiliate WTOK-TV the sheriff's department received a call from federal authorities at about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday informing them Evans was coming into Mississippi.

Deputies watched for the vehicle and spotted it going down I-20/59 in Meridian, according to Calhoun. When deputies tried to pull over the vehicle, a chase began. The chase ended in Dekalb, Mississippi, where Evans crashed on a dead end road and was taken into custody without incident.

Evans is in jail at the Lauderdale County, Miss. Jail, where he is being charged with felony fleeing, Calhoun told WTOK.